Dare You To Move
by RoswlFreak03
Summary: Part 5 updated! Sydney’s apartment has been ransacked, leading her to turn to a friend.
1. Who needs Hockey anyway

Author: Caroline  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Category: S/V shippyness  
  
Summary: Sydney's apartment has been ransacked, leading her to turn to a friend  
  
Disclaimer: Really, if I owned them would I be writing fan fiction?  
  
Notes: I got the title from the song "Dare You To Move" by Switchfoot.  
  
"Francie!" Sydney called out from the other side of the doorway. "Open up!" Sydney had three bags of groceries in her hand and didn't much feel like dropping them just to fish for her house key.  
  
Silence  
  
"Ugh, she's in Aruba with Charlie looking for possible honeymoon spots, just great." Sydney said to herself as she put down all of her groceries to search her bag for her key. "Bingo!" She said as the door flew open and she bent down to retrieve her parcels.  
  
Groceries in hand, she stepped inside and immediately dropped them on the floor, she faintly heard the crash of the spaghetti sauce jar. She looked around at her house, the furniture was upside down, a few dishes were strewn on the floor, everything, just everything was all over the place.  
  
Sydney's heart stopped as she had a brief flashback of the day she found Danny in the bathtub, dead. "Oh God, oh God..." was all that she could mutter. She walked slowly to the bathroom, and peaked in, she was relieved to find it empty, with the exception of some bottles of Midol and Tylenol strewn on the floor.  
  
She could take it anymore, she grabbed her purse that she had dropped on the floor with her grocery bundles and ran out of the house, slamming the door behind her. She got into her SUV and just drove off, she didn't know where she was heading, and she didn't really care. All she knew is that she didn't want to be in that house tonight. Her mind was a mixture of different thoughts. Was it SD-6 that had ransacked her house? KGB? Or was it random burglars?  
  
Michael Vaughn sat on his couch with a bag of Doritos in hand, watching a hockey game on ESPN. "Pass it! Pass the puck! You jerk, do you *want* your team to lose!?" Disgusted by the way the game was going he shoved a few more chips in his mouth. "Idiots".  
  
Just as the commercial was ending and the game was about to come back on the air, he heard a knock at his door. 'Why is it whenever there is a good game on TV, I get called to work, or someone ends up ruining it for me!' He thought to himself bitterly.  
  
He looked through the peek hole in the door to see a familiar brunette standing on the other side, with her hands crossed.  
  
"Sydney..." He said, obviously surprised as he opened the door. He could tell that she had been crying due to the light redness under he eyes. "Come in, come in, don't worry, the place is clean, you can speak freely. What's the matter?"  
  
"I'm so sorry to disturb you..." She said, motioning to the television set.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it, stupid game anyway." He said, clicking the TV off. "Please, sit down. What's wrong? What can I do?"  
  
Sydney loved how Vaughn was always so caring to her. She knew that she could trust him, he was the only person in her life that knew everything about her and she could talk to about things. "My house, I came home tonight and the place was just destroyed. Someone must have broken in, I don't know who..." Fresh tears began to well up in her eyes again as thoughts of herself walking in on Danny's body lying in the bathtub entered her mind.  
  
Vaughn bit his lip, and tried to contain himself from hugging her. He knew that those weeks ago it was against his better judgement that he hugged her when Sydney was apologizing for her mother's horrible actions. But tonight was different, tonight was personal. Sydney hadn't come to find comfort from her handler, she came to seek comfort from a friend, and a friend he would be to her. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry softly on his shoulder.  
  
She hugged him so tightly he feared for a few moments that he would lose his source of oxygen. He loved how his face fit perfectly in the crook of her neck, and he used all of his resistance from kissing her neck tenderly. He did allow himself to run his fingers through her hair though. All those times he had his meetings with her he wondered what it felt like to just touch the silkiness of her hair.  
  
"I just keep thinking of that day, that horrible day when I walked into Danny's apartment and found him covered in blood in the bathroom. His apartment looked just like my house, everything was everywhere. I can't get it out of my head!" She broke the hug and looked into his eyes. "I really am sorry I bothered you, I just didn't want to be alone right now."  
  
"You don't have anything to apologize for. What about Francie?" He asked.  
  
"She's in Aruba until Sunday with Charlie, her fiancÃ©e looking for possible honeymoon spots, that sort of thing."  
  
"So you have no idea who did this to you? You don't think it was SD-6?" He mentally cursed SD-6 for causing Sydney all of this grief, she's been through enough, and she didn't deserve any of this.  
  
She shook her head "I have no idea, I mean it could have been them, it could have just been a robber looking for jewels or something, I don't know."  
  
"Can I get you anything? Coffee, juice, tea?"  
  
"Tea would be heaven right about now."  
  
"Then tea it is Madame!" Vaughn teased, hoping to get a smile from Sydney, which worked.  
  
This was a different side of Vaughn that Sydney was seeing. She was seeing Michael, not Agent Vaughn and she liked it, she liked it alot. "Why thank you kind sir." She teased right back at him.  
  
TBC...  
  
I promise, more fluffy stuff in the next chapter! The more reviews I get, the faster I get inspired to write though! :) 


	2. Best friend with benefits

Sydney sat in Vaughn's small yet comfortable kitchen. Now that she thought about it, everything about Vaughn was comfortable. Being around him, she felt almost as comfortable as being in her favorite pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt watching TV…almost.  
  
"I'll be right back." He said, as he put down his cup of steaming hot tea.  
  
"Leaving me all alone? Where are you off too?" She said with hints of teasing in her voice.  
  
He turned around to look at her and smiled. "I have to prepare your room for the night."  
  
"Vaughn, really, I don't want to be a burden, I can ju--" But Vaughn cut her off before she could even finish her sentence.  
  
"You're staying the night, I don't want you to go back there not knowing who or what's been in your house, and I know if I were you, I wouldn't want to either. Tomorrow I'll come with you and help you clean your place up, and get it back to spic and span. Really, it's no trouble. Besides, I kind of like having you around Agent Bristow." He gave her a million-dollar smile before turning back around and heading to one of his hall closets, which she guessed he kept his sheets, towels, and other linens.  
  
Around ten minutes later Vaughn emerged from the room he was in. Sydney had just finished off her cup of tea and was grateful for the warm feeling inside that it provided for her. "Rooms all ready. It's a spare room that I sort of keep all my junk in, so I guess you'll fit right in."  
  
Sydney laughed, she laughed harder than she had in a long while. "Wow, I didn't think that was that funny of a joke…" Vaughn said, surprised that she found it so amusing.  
  
"It's just that I'm seeing such a different side of you tonight. I mean, it's great, it's definitely not a bad thing. I haven't even thought of work in the past hour with you. It's nice being around you like this." Sydney really meant it too, he was one of her best friends. She could clearly see that now. Before she thought of him as a friend, but wasn't sure if he considered it just part of his job. But tonight she was having fun with him. Tonight they weren't just CIA agents trying to make the world a better place, they were just Sydney and Michael.  
  
"Thanks, the feeling is mutual though. I haven't had this much fun since as long as I can remember. I guess it just proves what a lack of a life I have thanks to work."  
  
She laughed "Yeah, I know the feeling." Sydney stared at Vaughn who was only a few feet from her. Their eyes were practically entangled in each other. Sydney felt her heart rate increased as she wondered what it would be like to kiss Vaughn, to feel his lips on hers.  
  
Vaughn mentally pictured sweeping Sydney up off her chair, bringing her to his room, and making love to her all night. But he quickly pushed those images out of his mind. Those thoughts would lead him somewhere he knew he shouldn't go.  
  
"Listen, I'm sorry I made you miss your hockey game." Sydney said, trying to get out of the moment that was definitely between the two of them.  
  
He shrugged "Don't worry about it, it was a horrible game anyway. Are you tired, do you want to go to bed?"  
  
"Nah, I'm not really tired."  
  
"Me either."  
  
"What I would really love is too get into some comfortable clothes and maybe watch a movie. Nothing with violence, murder, or government agencies though." Sydney grinned as she saw Vaughn nod in agreement.  
  
"Do you need night clothes? I have some sweat pants and some t-shirts that would be good for you."  
  
'Say yes, say yes, say yes' Sydney told herself, oh how she would love to be completely surrounded by the scent of Michael Vaughn. "No, thanks. I always keep a bag of clothes in the back of my car. I never know when or where I'm going to be from one day to the next, so I found it handy to keep with me. I have some PJ's in there, thanks again though."  
  
Within a few minutes, Sydney was in the spare room that Vaughn had gotten ready for her. Vaughn looked at his movie collection and tried to think of something to watch. He thought of watching a romantic comedy, but didn't want it to seem like it was a date. Then he thought maybe a horror movie, if Sydney got scared she could hide her face into his shoulder. 'What are you, in the 8th grade? Get real'  
  
"Do you have any movie preference?" He said loudly so Sydney would hear him.  
  
"Something funny, I'm in the mood to laugh." She said, emerging from the room.  
  
Vaughn didn't know someone could look that good in just Capri sweat pants and a tank top.  
  
Five minutes later the opening scene of Dumb and Dumber was rolling on the television screen. Sydney has scootched over to lean herself against Vaughn. She didn't think about doing it, she just did it.  
  
Vaughn's inner logic had finally said 'screw it' as he allowed himself the pleasure of leaning his head on top of hers.  
  
"Can I ask you a question?" Sydney asked.  
  
"You can ask me anything." He said, enjoying the feel of her snuggled up against him.  
  
She believed him too. "Do you ever wish things were different?"  
  
"Different how? You mean like being a CIA agent?"  
  
"No…I mean yes. Well, what I mean is do you wish things between you and I were different?" Sydney could have sworn that her heart stopped beating as she waited for his answer.  
  
"Sydney… you know that we can't--"  
  
"Ever be together like this, I know." She finished off his sentence for him. "Hypothetically speaking, do you wish that things could be different between us?"  
  
"If you're asking me if I wish that we could be together as more than just friends or agent/handler then the answer is yes." Vaughn waited for a response from Sydney. Was this the moment he had been waiting for?  
  
"Oh, ok." Was all that Sydney said.  
  
Vaughn waited a few more moments. He lifted his head and looked at her. "You are such a tease, you know that Bristow." He took the pillow he was resting upon and lightly smacked her with it.  
  
"Me! I just asked you a simple question, curious of the answer." She took the pillow that was resting on the other end of the couch and smacked him right back.  
  
"Ok, this is war!" He declared as both he and Sydney got to their feet and began an all out pillow fight.  
  
"Alright, alright! I give!" Sydney said as Vaughn held her pinned against the corner of the couch.  
  
Another moment passed between them as neither moved but just continued looking into each other's eyes. "This is against all the rules, and it could lead us somewhere extremely dangerous, but would you kick my ass if I kissed you right now?"  
  
"No. But I might kick your ass if you don't kiss me right now."  
  
He cupped her face with his hands and gently leaned his lips towards hers. Kissing Sydney was better than any of his dreams. The kiss started out light, but soon grew into something more passionate.  
  
In what seemed like and eternity later, Vaughn forced himself to stop. "Sydney" he breathed huskily. "I don't want to rush things, not with you."  
  
"Me either, you mean to much to me."  
  
"So we agree to take things slowly." Sydney smiled, she melted at the way Vaughn was so considerate of their relationship.  
  
Sydney watched the rest of the movie curled up in Vaughn's lap. "I could get used to this." She whispered into his ear.  
  
He responded by placing a soft kiss on her shoulder. "Me too."  
  
---  
  
TBC!! Please, tell me how you are liking the story, I need to know if I'm moving in a good direction or what… 


	3. Defeated by sleep

Ten minutes before the movie ended Vaughn felt Sydney's head roll to one side of his shoulder, he knew she had fallen asleep. "Come on sleeping beauty, time for bed." He lightly chuckled at himself.  
  
"I wasn't sleeping." She protested.  
  
"You were so sleeping, I have the drool on my shirt to prove it."  
  
"Oh God…Well I guess that can go under the 'mot embarrassing moment' category. I want to spend more time with you though. I don't want to the night to end." She yawned and showed Vaughn her pouty lip.  
  
"You're exhausted, besides, this is only the beginning of us. We have a lifetime of time to spent together." The image of a cute old couple, sitting down in the morning and enjoying a cup of cover, talking about the old days when Sydney took down SD-6 popped into his mind. 'Maybe this can work.' He thought to himself.  
  
He scooped Sydney, who was already half asleep again. He loved taking care of Sydney, she was so strong and so independent on the outside, and she played the part of an agent well. But everybody needs to be taken care of, and Vaughn was happy that he got to take care of her, at tonight and now on. He placed Sydney down on the bed in the spare room.  
  
"You're going to leave me all alone in this empty room?" He could tell she was fishing for an invitation not to be alone.  
  
"You're a pill, you know that." They both softly giggled as Vaughn picked her up in his arms once more. Only this time, he felt soft kisses trailing along his neck.  
  
"Thank you." He heard her say between a yawn.  
  
He carefully placed her down on one side of his bed. He lifted the covers up over her and snuggly tucked her in. He placed a brief but tender kiss on her lips before himself getting into bed. He proceeded by wrapping his arms around her, before they both fell into a peaceful and content sleep. 


	4. Eggs, bacon, and a rude awakening

I got a little unexpected free time, so I decided to write the next part ( Enjoy!  
  
---  
  
Vaughn woke up around 8am to find Sydney's arms entangled with his, and her legs entangled with his. He mentally wished that he could wake up every morning like this. He tried to disentangle himself from Sydney without waking her up.  
  
She snuggled her face against his "Mmm… Danny…" she moaned softly as she was clearly still asleep. Vaughn's heart practically broke in a million pieces. She was still dreaming of Danny. He finally freed himself from her and decided to hop into the shower before Sydney woke up.  
  
Taking a longer shower than usual, he thanked every higher power that it was Saturday and he didn't have to go into the office. Still, Sydney calling him Danny was bothering him more than he liked. 'Everything was going perfect until then.' He couldn't shake the heavy feeling in his heart.  
  
He emerged from the shower, dried himself off and got dressed. He came out from the bathroom to find the aroma of bacon and eggs surrounding him. "Good morning!" Sydney said as he walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Making me breakfast are you?" He smiled, trying to conceal his thoughts, but apparently Sydney sensed something was the matter.  
  
"What's wrong? I hope you don't mind me using your eggs and bacon. I saw them in your fridge, and eventually found a frying pan, and thought I would surprise you with breakfast."  
  
"No, I don't mind at all, in fact I love it that you're making breakfast, considering I'm not the world's greatest cook." He looked to the floor, nervously. "This morning, when you were still sleeping, you called me Danny."  
  
He looked up to see her confused and saddened face. "I did?"  
  
"Yeah…"  
  
She placed the cooked eggs on a plate and turned the stove off. "I'm really sorry, I had no idea I did that. Oh no, Michael, I can't say how sorry I am."  
  
"It's no big deal, really. It just threw me off a bit. I can understand that you are still hurting from that, and you probably aren't even done grieving for him yet. It just threw me, that's all."  
  
Sydney walked over to him and brushed a stray piece of wet hair off of his forehead. "Listen, Danny and I were together for such a long time, and yes, his death did get me off track for a long while, and I have no idea why I called out his name, but I am dealing with it. I have accepted his death and moved on, to you. He would want me to be happy, and when I'm with you, I'm happy." She grabbed his hands and laced their fingers together.  
  
"I love you." He plainly stated. He stopped his breath as he waited for her to answer.  
  
She smiled "I love you too." He kissed her. He never wanted to let her go ever again. "Now let's eat, breakfast is getting cold." She dragged him over to the kitchen table where she placed the two plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and a cup of coffee.  
  
"You know this is going to change things." She said to him.  
  
"I know, this puts you in more danger than ever. And I just want you to know that if you ever feel like this is too much to handle, just say the word, I'll understand." He gave her hand a light squeeze.  
  
"Michael, I know that we are going to need to keep this a secret from the CIA, and we're going to need to be even more careful about SD-6 finding out about you, but one of these days, SD-6 is going to be gone. Me and my father will take it down, and when that happens, me and you are going to go take a walk all around Los Angeles so all of the world can see us together. That image alone will save my sanity. I need you, I need you as my handler and I want you as my boyfriend and most of all, I need you as my best friend. I want to be with you, more than anything, I do. We'll just take it slow and be careful."  
  
"You never cease to amaze me."  
  
"What?" Sydney said through a mouthful of egg.  
  
"You're confidence, it's just amazing."  
  
She laughed "Eat up agent, you promised me you'd help me clean my place up today. And I'm holding you to it!"  
  
--  
  
TBC! 


	5. Back to good

Sydney walked up to her apartment with Vaughn's fingers thoroughly laced between her own. When they arrived at her front door, Vaughn felt her grip tighten. "It's ok, we'll get this place back to good again, it's going to be ok, and it shouldn't take that long."  
  
He looked at her melancholy expression and tilted her head up to meet his eyes with his free hand. "Really, whoever did this is gone and I doubt they will come back. Maybe after we get this place cleaned up we'll go back to my place I'll order some lunch and we can just chill out for awhile."  
  
She smiled "That sounds nice."  
  
Three hours later, after vigorously cleaning Sydney's housing looked just like it did before hand, except for a few things that had to be thrown away due to the fact that they had broke. "Thank you so much, really, you have no idea how much you have helped me today, and for last night as a matter of fact, after everything that's happened you've stuck by me, so thank you."  
  
"Sydney every day you go out and you risk your life to help the nation, I'm the one that should be thanking you." Sydney smiled at Vaughn's kind words towards her and gently kissed him on the lips.  
  
"Can we just rest for a moment before we head back to your place, I just need a few minutes to catch my breath and rest my bones." Sydney slouched on her couch and pulled Vaughn next to her. She snuggled up on his lap where she rested her head in the crook of his neck. "I like being with you." She said.  
  
"I like being with you too, I thought that was the general idea of going out with someone, liking their company." He laughed a little bit, feeling her steady breathing on his neck.  
  
"Well that, but I like being with you like this, like normal people. We're not in a cold damp warehouse, we're not pretending we don't know each other out in public, we're just two normal people who enjoy each other's company." Sydney then began to place small little kisses along his neck, working her way up to his ear.  
  
Just at that moment, an idea popped into Vaughn's head. "Do you have rollerblades?"  
  
"Wow, that was random. Yeah, course I have rollerblades, why in the world do you ask?"  
  
"Grab them and let's go." He said, pulling her to her feet.  
  
An hour later the couple was in the suburbs of Los Angeles.  
  
"Does this little fieldtrip have a purpose?" Sydney asked still completely in the dark about what Vaughn had in mind.  
  
Vaughn drove the car into a deserted parking lot, a parking lot surrounded by what Sydney guessed was miles and miles of trees.  
  
"I used to come here all the time when I was younger, it was a nice getaway from the city and not many people come here. And this time a year nobody is here pretty much since everyone is either at the beach or has better things than go visit nature for the day."  
  
Vaughn grabbed his skates from his trunk while Sydney put hers on. "I think it's been at least 3 years since I last went rollerblading."  
  
"In that case, you better not let go of my hand." He smiled as he steadied himself and grabbed Sydney's hand.  
  
When they had exhausted themselves blading around, they sat down at a grassy spot by a shining pond. Sydney had stretched out in hopes of gaining somewhat of a tan. "I need to take more vacation days."  
  
"When we get SD-6 taken down you will have endless vacation days ahead of you."  
  
Vaughn sat down on the grass and Sydney got up from where she was sitting to position herself so she could lean against him. "And how long will that take?"  
  
Vaughn knew he didn't have an answer to her question, only time would tell how long it would take to bring down SD-6, it could be months, but then again it could take years and years. Neither of them knew if they could wait that long to be together openly. Each day would just get harder and harder.  
  
---  
  
Ok, sorry this chapter took so long for me to get up! I hope to finish it within the next few days, so we'll just have to see how productive I actually am! Haha 


	6. What plans may come

"Home sweet home!" Vaughn exclaimed as he and Sydney walked through the threshold of his apartment. He threw his keys on the counter and headed towards the fridge.  
  
Sydney on the other hand dawdled a bit longer in the doorway, an image slipped into her mind of her in a puffy white wedding dress being cradled in the arms of a Michael Vaughn wearing a handsome tuxedo. "Here we are Mrs. Vaughn." He said as he leaned in to kiss her. "Sydney…?"  
  
"Sydney? Hello, Sydney, earth to Agent Bristow!" Vaughn called as he waved his hands in front of her face.  
  
"Huh?" She said, snapping back to reality.  
  
"Wow, you were just a million miles away from here." He said taking her jacket off for her.  
  
She blushed to a bright red "Oh, um, I was just thinking. Anyway, it's pretty late, I think I'm just going to take a shower and go to bed." Sydney said. 'Yeah a shower, a very cold shower.'  
  
She noticed the look of disappointment that fell upon his face. "Oh… are you sure? I sort of had some plans for tonight."  
  
Sydney's face brightened "Plans? Well, sleep can wait. What do you have in mind?"  
  
"Excellent, dinner should be served any minute…"  
  
Hearing the ringing of a doorbell, Vaughn went and opened the door to find an Oriental teenager with a bag of food in his hand.  
  
"Chinese food! You truly are my guardian angel!" Sydney exclaimed. "How did you know that it was my favorite?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
He smirked at her after closing the door. "I have connections."  
  
"Now of that I have no doubt." She said as she dug into the bag of food to see which foods she would devour.  
  
A half and hour later the table had been cleaned up and Sydney was just putting away the last carton of food in the fridge. "So, anything else in mind?"  
  
He smiled mischievously and walked into the center of the living room. Curling his finger he motioned for her to come to him.  
  
She walked over to him where he preceded to shut the light off and he grabbed the remote for his stereo.  
  
Sydney soon heard the soft sounds of classical music fill the room as Vaughn took her hands into his own and slowly the two of them began dancing in the dark room which was now lit only by the moonlight which was shining through the windows.  
  
Vaughn had his head down, placed on the crook of Sydney's neck. She could feel his steady and constant breath on her skin.  
  
Laying her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and let herself be peaceful, for once in her life since her crusade against SD-6 began, she had completely and utterly forgotten that SD-6 even existed. They both swayed from side to side gently to the music, neither one of them wanted this to end. Both of them could feel the heat that the other was radiating.  
  
"Sydney" Vaughn breathed huskily as he lifted his head. She did the same and both of their eyes locked in a passionate gaze. "I love you."  
  
She smiled, this wide-eyed big grin smile. "I love you too."  
  
They both resumed dancing for another song until Sydney broke the comfortable silence. "When?"  
  
"When what?" He asked.  
  
"When did you fall in love with me?"  
  
He smiled, obviously remember the occasion. "It was the night you called me to come meet you, when your dad had stood you up for dinner. I just remember how deeply your father had hurt you and I saw this other side of you, this fragile side and I knew that I had never met anyone who had so many different sides to love." He leaned in and gave her lips a soft kiss. "What about you?"  
  
She thought for a moment "I don't think there was a specific instant that I knew that I was in love with you. It just gradually happened. When I would go out on missions I found myself just wanting to get the job done so I could come home and then I found myself wanting to get the job done so I could see you when I got back. And just the way you've always listened to me and never asked for anything in return. All of it, I just fell in love with every aspect of you, Michael Vaughn."  
  
The two of them stopped dancing and instead began to kiss passionately. Sydney nipped at Vaughn's ear and planted heated kisses all down the side of his neck while Vaughn kissed parts of her shoulder as he pushed down one strap of her tank top.  
  
"Wait, Sydney, are you sure about this?" He asked, stopping the motions.  
  
She looked at him straight in the eye. "I've never been more sure about anything."  
  
--  
  
TBC!! 


End file.
